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The following piece was originally published on 9/22/08:
Yesterday was the anniversary of the passing of Ted "Rocco Rock" Petty. As I sat in the former ECW Arena Saturday night, I looked for a long time at a pair of banners commemorating the life of Petty and his partner Mike "Johnny Grunge" Durham, who died in 2006.
It was a weird feeling sitting in a full venue, because for many, many years, The Public Enemy were synonymous with the venue as the first "homegrown" ECW talents to main event there. Sadly, they are also perhaps the most forgotten ECW main event act.
Here is a look back at the career of The Public Enemy, as it was originally published shortly after the passing of Petty's tag team partner Johnny Grunge.
"WE'RE NAUGHTY BY NATURE, AND VIOLENT BY DESIGN!"
When I learned of Mike "Johnny Grunge" Durham's passing away yesterday, a flood of memories of what to me, was a truly golden era in the history of professional wrestling, the rise of Extreme Championship Wrestling, rushed forward.
During that era, The Public Enemy were the team to beat in the company. They were edgy, but funny at the same time. They were seen as legit bad asses by the ECW fans and they worked their way up from the opening matches to the main event of the company with hard work and dedication, much like the blue collar city of Philadelphia that they earned their fame in.
"OOOOH, ROCCO....."
September 20, 2005 marked the three year anniversary of the passing of Ted Petty, best known inside the ring as Flyboy Rocco Rock and with Durham's death yesterday, it's impossible to talk about one without the other.
Even yesterday when I was discussing Durham's passing with mutual friends, the conversation was mostly about "Teddy and Johnny", because they were close friends to the end and after Petty had passed away, Grunge was never the same. Petty always looked out for him, always kept him out of trouble (for the most part), and always did the job, because as the stronger worker, he could bounce back better from it while Grunge didn't have that going for him.
Petty was one of the truly nice guys in wrestling, in that he always went out of his way to be nice to the fans and never forgot his roots as a struggling wrestler. After spending years in the business under a mask as the Cheetah Kid working the Northeastern independent scene, doing moves like moonsaults that would later be popularized by others, Petty never forgot the years of trying to make it when he finally clicked and made it to the big-time. A former boxer, Petty worked several gimmicks early in his career, first as Leopard Mask. When a fan asked him about being a takeoff of Tiger Mask when getting an autograph, Petty changed the name of his character to Cheetah Kid. As Cheetah Kid, he did a New Japan Pro Wrestling tour, working against Jushin Liger and others.
What most ECW fans forget is that there was never supposed to be a Public Enemy. Not if Paul Heyman had his way. When Paul Heyman and Jim Crockett did their initial World Wrestling Network taping in Fort Hood, Texas in 1992, Petty was to be one half of a masked Komodo Dragons tag team with Dean Malenko. The team performed once that I am aware, that one show in Fort Hood which was taped but never seen.
"OOOHH, JOHNNY...."
At the very first Monday Night Raw taping in January 1993, Ted Petty worked the second match of the taping under his mask billed simply as Cheetah, doing a dark bout against another Northeastern independent worker: Johnny Rotten. The match was OK but Petty's work was off as it was obvious he wasn't used to the WWF ring. Rotten didn't show much.
Rotten was Mike Durham, who was originally from Louisiana or Alabama (he would say both) who broke into the business. He was OK at best during his early years, billed as "Rotten" Johnny Rotten for a number of Northeastern independent companies. Coming out in a sequined robe, Durham had a little TV time on the short-lived NAWA company promoted by Tony Mura out of Mount Vernon, New York, which also featured future ECW main eventers Taz and Tommy Dreamer, and even the future Little Guido, Damien Stone.
Petty and Durham became quick friends and would work against each other on a lot of indy bookings and international tours. After seeing Petty and Durham work together during one such tour put together by former wrestling radio show host John Arezzi, Paul Heyman (who used Petty when booking the old Mario Savoldi ICW company) decided their chemistry would be perfect for a tag team, tapping into an urban gimmick and christening them, "The Public Enemy." Petty initially refused the idea, not wanting to work without a mask and feeling the fans would see through his age. When Heyman explained the characters and insisted that the only way he would use Grunge was as Petty's partner, Petty finally agreed. He was watching out for Johnny and it would be far from the first time.
A tag team was born. The Rocco Rock name was actually a takeoff on rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg, later Snoop Dogg. Johnny Rotten was out as it was too close to the infamous lead singer of the Sex Pistols. With Nirvana and the other Seattle bands being all the rage during that era, Grunge was in - Johnny Grunge it was. From that point on, I don't ever recall anyone referring to him as Michael - he was always Johnny or Grunge among his friends, his fans, and his peers.
"WE'RE THE FIRST GENERATION OF AMERICAN YOUTH MORE AFRAID OF LIVING THEN DYING!"
Once Petty (already in his late thirties) and Durham (heavier with a goatee, but still a Cajun at heart) started playing the role of Hoodies, their careers took off as for the first time in their lives, they weren't anonymous indy workers but wrestlers getting recognition among the fans as they worked regularly for Extreme Championship Wrestling, soon becoming a core act for the company.
The first true homegrown ECW creation to take off with a life of it's own, The Public Enemy helped ECW turn the corner in 1995 when they became babyfaces. While ECW had several veterans and names that had independent and rebellious mystique, like Terry Funk, Kevin Sullivan, and Sabu, TPE were ECW from infancy on. As they grew and evolved, so did the size of the ECW audience in Philadelphia's ECW Arena.
While many of the matches do not hold up to the test of time on video, if you were attending Extreme Championship Wrestling during that era, there were many a night that no matter how good or bad the show was, The Public Enemy coming out declaring they were the "Mack Daddies of Violence", brawling, bleeding, and bringing the fans into the ring for a "House Party" to the tune of "Here Comes the Hotstepper" sent you home happy and ready for more of the same at the next show in three weeks' time.
The Public Enemy was a unique entity in those days of cartoonish characters in the national companies. Here was a guy in his late thirties and a heavy Cajun white guy playing hoodies who grew up on the streets, using wrestling to make sure they didn't go back. Their promos ranged from heavy and violent (Petty destroying glass bottles with a baseball bat as he declared the team would defeat Cactus Jack and Mikey Whipwreck since he had seen "the fear in Cactus' eyes") to silly and comedic (breaking into Tod Gordon's office to find out who had a contract for the next Tag Title shot), as the pair would often end promos with Petty slapping Grunge with his hat and proclaiming, "Oh Johnny!"
The mixture and texture of the duo's work off each other was a hit, and the crowd bought them as both entertaining goofballs and bad asses at the same time, no easy feat to accomplish before jaded hardcore Philadelphia fans.
"WE'RE GONNA MAKE THE BIG SCORE, AND WHEN WE DO....WE'RE GONNA MOVE NEXT DOOR TO YOU!"
The team really started to click as heels in 1994. Although they had defeated Pat Tanaka and Paul Diamond to establish some credibility, it was the one and only Terry Funk who finally gave them the permanent shine. Attacking Funk during a tag match in May 1994 led to a June bout featuring the reuniting Funk Brothers against TPE. To build the bout, ECW filmed vignettes where TPE "invaded" the Double Cross Ranch, spraypainting the place and stealing a llama to boot. Funk came for his revenge and got it when he hogtied Petty and shoved him off the Eagle's nest balcony. Upside down and suspended, Dory Funk had his way with the Hoodie. This all led to the first no ropes barbed wire match in ECW history, where just as he had done with so many others, Terry Funk put over the younger wrestlers with both members of PE jumping atop Funk, who was wrapped in barbed wire. The heels had won the feud. PE, as the saying goes, were "made men" before that audience.
In July 1994, PE defeated Axl and Ian Rotten in a great match. The following month, they were scheduled to face Cactus Jack and Terry Funk coming out of PE ruining a Funk vs. Cactus match, which led to the famous scene of the tag team being buried under hundreds of steel chairs thrown by the fans. When Funk didn't make it to the show, Foley suggested they toss in Mikey Whipwreck. TPE put over Whipwreck, already a beloved undercard character. It was their turn to turn a performer into a "made man." With the exception of a short two month run where he held the ECW World title, Whipwreck was always over with the audience.
The feud with Whipwreck and Cactus Jack continued until that year's November to Remember. The matches don't hold up as well as the memories, but the promos were and still are, off the charts. Petty and Grunge were both finding themselves behind the mic by this point. They moved into a feud with Sabu and Taz where they were essentially "stealing Sabu's gimmick" the same way they would lift stolen merchandise on the streets. This led to Sabu and Taz winning the Tag belts at Double Tables in February 1995, but a funny thing happened on the way to the title change.
"LADDY DADDY, WE LIKES TO PARTY...."
TPE were screwed out of their ECW World Tag Team championships in storyline, and the fans recognized it. Although they did nothing to change their style, the same audience that saw them earn their way to the top soon turned The Public Enemy babyface, feuding with Sabu & Taz and Dean Malenko & Chris Benoit, building to the company's first Three-Way Dance.
Firmly established as babyfaces, the formula for the team was simple: Petty danced while Grunge (who had absolutely NO coordination) marched around the ring high fiving the fans. Grunge (who was a really good talker at this point) would do some mic work promising blood and mayhem, and the pair would then deliver. Petty, the stronger worker of the two by far, would always do the majority of the in-ring wrestling while Grunge brawled and bled. When it was came time for the team to lose, it was Petty's shoulders to the mat. He was watching out for Johnny.
"THIS HOUSE THAT SITS ON THE CORNER OF SWANSON & RITTNER IS THE HOUSE THAT MOTHER F***ING PUBLIC ENEMY BUILT!"
Although many credit the likes of Sabu and Terry Funk for putting ECW on the map, TPE was the first homegrown creation to truly draw for the promotion. For whatever reason, the booking, the work, and the hype all created magic that ECW fans bought, and they loved Public Enemy. Feuds and matches against The Funk Brothers, Ian & Axl Rotten, Sabu and Taz, The Pitbulls, The Gangstas, and Dean Malenko & Chris Benoit remain favorites for old school ECW fans of that era.
When Sabu no-showed the promotion in April 1995 at what was then the promotion's largest ever event, the Three-Way Dance, TPE turned up the level of violence and began using more and more tables in their matches, sometimes even lighting them on fire before Petty would moonsault through them. While there was a time Sabu was considered the nucleus of ECW, The Public Enemy more than filled that void and proved that ECW was about greater than just one performer.
"TOS...WHAT'S THAT MEAN ROCCO?"
"IT LOOKS LIKE WE AIN'T THE ONLY HOODIES IN TOWN NO MORE"
The summer of 1995 was the most violent of any era in Extreme Championship Wrestling. Axl and Ian Rotten were carving each other apart with barbed wire bats and chairs on the road to the first-ever Taipei Death Match. Raven and Tommy Dreamer were brawling and bleeding all over the ECW Arena with a cavalcade of secondary characters from The Pitbulls to Luna Vachon to the Pitbulls getting involved in the mix.
Nothing, however, could top The Public Enemy against The Gangstas. New Jack and Mustafa debuted in June 1995 unannounced, although the word was out among fans that they would be showing up. In a vignette, TPE were leaving the building where they saw their graffiti tag followed by "TOS" - Terminate on Sight. A worried Rocco Rock looked to the sky and around, realizing they weren't the only Hoodies in town. The next week, PE were laid out and bloodied by the Gangstas. Violence had a new favorite feud. Weapons. Brawls all over the building. Moonsaults off the top of a cage through tables. Irish Whips into industrial fans on the stage. Buckets bleeding. It was the stuff of legend, a dirty blood feud.
With new heels to face, PE's popularity within ECW continued to skyrocket, leading to the testosterone fueled House Party, with ECW fans charging over the rails to celebrate with their heroes and chant the company's name. For some fans it was a chance to be part of the show. For others, it was a chance to rebel with their rebel promotion, chant their letters and send a message that this was the company that they loved and these were the stars they wanted to see. If you weren't there, you wouldn't understand. If you were there, as so many of us lucky fans were, you are smiling and nodding right about now. It was a special time to be a wrestling fan.
With that level popularity among the ever-growing Internet, Public Enemy and ECW came under the notice of the larger promotions, and for the first time, a homegrown ECW talent was courted by the national promotions. As the rumors grew stronger that they were about to depart, fans chanted "Please don't go." They loved their hoodies, as evidenced by the ever growing legion that would rush the ring for the show closing House Party, to the point a ring in Florida was decimated by fans jumping up and down waving their arms.
When asked, Petty and Grunge would both say they were going nowhere. I remember them both saying it to a group of fans after ECW's November to Remember event in 1995. Two days later, they were working a dark match at the Survivor Series in Landover, Maryland. It appeared that PE would be heading to WWF, but WCW, a few months into their Nitro run, began bidding with promises of a huge push which never materialized and huge money, more than either had made in their lives wrestling business.
The ECW fans that popularized PE's career cooled to the team. When they came out to face the Heavenly Bodies in December 1995, the reaction was almost apathetic. It took the appearance of Bubba Ray Dudley, who was super over as an undercard babyface (think a dancing, stuttering version of Eugene) coming out. It was a band-aid at best. The honeymoon with the ECW fans was over because, in that audience's eyes, TPE had sold out. Of course, in the same position, many would have drawn the same conclusion as PE, especially Petty, who wasn't getting any younger: After so many years in the business for little money, it was time to go, and it was better to go out on top.
ONE LAST DANCE
Grunge and Petty paid tribute to the ECW fans that made their careers on PE's final night in the promotion in January 1996.
"You people are the greatest wrestling fans in the world," Petty said after the team's final bout in the ECW Arena. "Whether you know it or you don't, and you probably don't, Just the energy you people create make us guys do things we normally wouldn't do. There ain't no way I'm jumping off a ledge, 12 feet in the air, through two tables, unless you people made me do it...and you did. Me and Johnny Love You."
The farewell match featured PE defeating the Gangstas, who had been fired but brought back to fill the void of PE's departure. Afterwards, it was an absolute mess as ECW fans were charging the rails, ruining plans for PE to bring out Bubba Ray Dudley, The Pitbulls, and even Tod Gordon and Paul Heyman to have a little fun dancing before the big finale with all the fans. None of the footage ever made the ECW video tape and has never seen the light of day. ECW added a tribute video to the end of their final show, House Party '96 featuring clips of PE vignettes, closing out with the magical scene of the entire ECW Arena dancing before a bout against The Pitbulls.
That night, at the fabled Philadelphia Travelodge, a run down circular shaped hotel that sat across the street from the Penrose Diner (Karaoke on Saturday, Psychics on Wednesday, read the menus on this dump), Petty and Grunge made the rounds and spoke to all of the hardest of the hardcore ECW fans and thanked them, because if it hadn't been for the fans, PE wouldn't have had the chance. "Don't you worry" Grunge said to a group of us as we toasted. "We'll be back. I'll be fired in no time!" We all laughed. Most of us believed him.
CHAPTER TWO: ELECTRIC BOOGALOU
After leaving Extreme Championship Wrestling for WCW, The Public Enemy never recaptured that magic feeling they provided every few weeks in that Bingo Hall in South Philly, but after years of killing himself on independents and Japan, Petty got the chance to work nationally and make good money Grunge got to make his loveable name among ECW fans a little more loveable when word got out that he had swiped a WCW production truck and gone for a joyride shortly after debuting.
A forgettable WCW Tag Title reign was the highlight of their WCW career which featured feuds with Harlem Heat and the Nasty Boys. The duo were never really used or given the chance from day one. There were no vignettes to explain who these two guys were or why they were waving their arms. They were simply two guys in cartoonish jerseys carrying a table to the ring. There was never any promotional push put into them, and it was obvious they were hired by WCW not to better WCW, but to hurt ECW. It would be far from the last time that it happened.
YOU CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN
After leaving WCW, Public Enemy bounced back to ECW for a sobering return that sadly showed that one can never go home again. The Public Enemy of 1995 wasn't going to return in 1999.
It all began at the Guilty as Charged PPV in January 1999. Bubba Ray Dudley issued a challenge for The Public Enemy to return and face them. There was an immediate buzz about it and that night, there were a lot of old ECW fans who had moved on from the company returning to their see old friends. The magic just wasn't there. PE's appearance was teased twice before they actually came out, the second time being Bubba Ray and D-Von doing a tremendous impression of them, making fun of the fact that the team had sold out, gotten old, and were back. It cut too close to home and turned Bubba babyface that night, because the majority of fans agreed with what he had said.
When PE came out, they showed no real fire in running off the Dudleys. They invited fans into the ring, but by that point, ECW had installed Atlas Security and no fan in their right mind was crossing the rails if there was a chance of getting a beating from those guys. It ended up with Grunge and Petty rushing to the bleachers. As one night nostalgia, it was OK, but if PE was looking to come home, the hoodies were no longer welcome on the streets of South Philadelphia. They made one more appearance where they were laid out, then no showed a scheduled match in New York City.
The Public Enemy had signed with the WWF, but the company that courted them just a few years earlier had little use for them. After a brief fling where they are most remembered for being absolutely decimated by the Acolytes, TPE was back in WCW with a very reduced push where they were basically extras as part of a cast of dozens and dozens of wrestlers. Petty and Grunge had also worked for the fledgling XWF managed by Jasmin St. Clair, making the odd occasional independent appearance.
"LET'S MAKE THIS A FUN MATCH."
On 9/20/02, Petty worked an indy show against Crowbar in Jersey City, New Jersey. Before they got in the ring, Petty commented, "Let's make this a fun match. Wrestling hasn't been much fun lately." After the bout, Petty and his fiance began driving down the New Jersey Turnpike to make a doubleshot at 3PW in Philadelphia. Petty, who's family had a history of cardiac issues, began to feel sick with chest pains. Although they called ahead via cell phone and an ambulance was waiting for them at the next Turnpike exit, it was already too late.
Ted Petty was only 50 years old at the time of his passing, having celebrated his birthday just a few weeks before. In his honor, Ian Rotten's IWA Mid-South promotion renamed their annual Junior Heavyweight tournament the "Ted Petty Invitational." The ECW Arena put up a banner in his memory, where it remains to this day. When ECW One Night Stand featured a series of historical packages, Public Enemy was right in the center of it all, as well they should have been.
Petty's passing was a tremendous blow to a number of his fellow ECW alumni, especially since Petty was never, ever part of the heavy party scene that often came hand in hand with being an ECW star during the glory era. Grunge, however, loved partying after the shows with the fans. It was impossible to miss Grunge in a hotel bar after the show as he was often the life of the party. He was funny and charismatic, sometimes more in the bar then he was in the ring. One night, he was refused any more alcohol by a barmaid. He warned her she would regret it and she scoffed at him.
"Hey ECW!" screamed Grunge as he jumped up a chair. "This bar doesn't want to serve me or ECW any more beer....follow me!"
Everyone followed this Cajun pied-piper of drunkenness to a hotel down the street, where the post-show festivities continues. That was just how ECW was.
LIFE AFTER TEDDY
To this day, when Petty's name is brought up among those in the business, the first comment you'll often hear is, "I miss Teddy." For many fans and dreaming wrestlers, Ted Petty was the epitome of a journeyman wrestler who finally made good. After years of toiling, he hit upon a persona that fans loved and had the chance to live his dream as a wrestler nationally. Even when he could have gotten away with it, he never had that "wrestler ego" of being the star or of being better than others. Petty was happy to be one of the boys and was always especially happy to be good to his fans.
When Petty passed, he couldn't watch out for Grunge anymore and the bookings dried up. He was working fulltime for his father-in-law in Georgia (where he had resided from late 1995 on) doing construction. His weight, which was always a major detriment to his career, had ballooned to the point that some fans didn't believe it was him when he came out to pay tribute to Petty and other fallen ECW stars in a ceremony that also featured 911, Tammy Sytch, and Gary Wolfe. He had obviously moved on from his career.
After Homecoming was over, Grunge and a number of other stars stayed for an impromptu signing with their old friends and fans. When Grunge was passed a photo of himself, Petty, Tommy Dreamer, Taz, Paul Heyman, and 911 from a Cauliflower Alley Club dinner, he looked up in surprise.
"Where did you get this?", he questioned
"My friend asked me to get you to sign it. You are the only autograph on it he doesn't have."
"Man, that's my whole life right there," Grunge said, staring for a long time before handing it back with the trademark Grunge smirk. "Thank you."
Grunge was dead not even two years later.
THANK YOU, TPE
Personally, I'll never forget the many matches I watched live during those magic years. The Public Enemy helped me as a fan fall in love with Extreme Championship Wrestling. There was a special magic in those times that can only be truly understood if you lived through them. If I could give every wrestling fan one gift, it would be to see what it was like to sit in that dilapidated Bingo Hall that changed the face of the wrestling world forever.
Many forget to mention Public Enemy in the same breath as Paul Heyman, Sabu, Taz, Tommy Dreamer, and the many, many others who helped put ECW on the map but the fact is, as said many times on the mic, "This house that sits on the corner of Swanson and Ritner is the House that Public Enemy built."
It always will be, to me.
Mike Durham, Ted Petty, The Public Enemy, rest in peace.
Mike Johnson can be reached at Mike@PWInsider.com.
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